Book

Warm Bread, Pancetta, & Poached Egg Salad w/ Parmesan

I think that greens salads with warm components are probably my favorite types of salads to eat. Give me a good Spinach Salad w/ a Bacony-Vinegary dressing...or a Salad with warm roasted squash & a warm maple-spiked dressing like my favorite autumn/winter salad...or even a salad in the middle of summer with some veggies or meat straight off the grill right on top of it. That said, I like crisp, fresh salads, too...but salads tossed with warm things scream "full meal" to me! This one is particularly satisfying with crunchy, chewy chunks of warm bread and salty crisps of pancetta over tender young greens and a warm, sunny yolk finding its way down through all the nooks and crannies. Good Day, Sunshine....

Preheat oven to 400° F. Cut bread into cubes then drizzle with olive oil. Add garlic and season with some salt and pepper then toss it all to combine. Spread out onto a baking sheet and pop into the oven for ~10 minutes, or until it has started to get golden edges. Lay the slices of prosciutto on the tray with (or right on top of) the bread and cook another 5-10 minutes until everything is crisp.

Meanwhile, combine lemon juice w/ some olive oil (about 3 parts oil to 1 part lemon juice), then season with salt and pepper and whisk or shake to combine (I am partial to putting it all in a little jar and shaking it up).

Put a small pot of water on to boil and pour in a slug of white vinegar (this helps the poached eggs hold their shape). Crack your eggs into a small dish or cup for sliding (one per dish/at a time). Turn the heat down until it barely bubbles and carefully slide your eggs in one at a time. Cook for ~4 minutes for a runny yolk. Lift out with a slotted spoon and set it on a kitchen towel to drain.

Toss your dressing with your lettuces and the bread and pancetta from the oven. Divide evenly among plates, then top each with a poached egg and use a veggie peeler to shave as much Parmesan as you'd like over each salad.

"This one is particularly satisfying with crunchy, chewy chunks of warm bread and salty crisps of pancetta over tender young greens and a warm, sunny yolk finding its way down through all the nooks and crannies."The way you described it right there was food poetry! (AND IT MADE ME DROOL!) There are some amazing salads being posted lately, and I want to try them all!Viva Spring!

Beautiful salad! Though I'd have to go without the egg. I have weird issues with drippy eggs. But the "chewy chunks of warm bread" I could more than handle. In fact, I'd probably take more than my fair share. Well, there's no probably about it.

I want to marry you!! This salad would be the perfect way to my heart - I could eat this for a meal every night of the week. I love a salad for a main meal, and I agree it needs a warm component. This has the perfect balance of fresh leaves and warm bits, crunchy bits and chewy bits, and gooey, drippy, oozy bits. Love it.Sue xo

This sounds great! I recently got some Himalayan pink salt and organic peppercorns from Sustainable Sourcing https://secure.sustainablesourcing.com and I'll have to try them out in this recipe. Thanks for sharing!

Just saw this on YBR and I love everything about this salad! I too enjoy a warm component in my salad, even if it's something as basic as grilled chicken. Great photos too! I will be making this very soon. So glad to have found your blog.

Disclaimer: posts may contain Amazon affiliate links, which earn me a small commission when you buy (but doesn't cost you anything extra). Occasionally I receive free products and/or run sponsored posts—this will always be stated clearly in the post. Thank you for supporting this blog.

This website contains some quotations, excerpts, and screen clips from copyrighted material. These uses fall well within the copyright doctrine of "Fair Use".